


Trying Is Enough

by Afoolforatook



Series: An Anthology of Affection [29]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Flustered Clover, M/M, Oblivious Qrow, Pining, anxious Clover, hey look its my trademark theme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:22:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25642006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Afoolforatook/pseuds/Afoolforatook
Summary: Clover's good at hiding his anxiety.Qrow's good at ignoring his own feelings.But they always manage to see through each other's act.---------------------Part 29Saw a post of kissing prompts. Liked a bunch of them. Decided to give myself a daily challenge to get myself actually publishing things while I work on bigger projects.One prompt a day. Under 1500 words (or close to it).
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Series: An Anthology of Affection [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805008
Comments: 8
Kudos: 58





	Trying Is Enough

Prompt 29 - Staring at each other’s lips for a moment before moving closer, as if drawn together by some unseen force.

Trying Is Enough

\-----------------

Qrow looked over at his partner sitting beside him in the back of the transport. 

Supply run. Card game. The routine. 

Their routine. 

Except, this time the transport was particularly packed. And their usual comfortable distance - supply crate between them - had become much more cramped. They now sat side by side, laying their cards on the small patch of floor between them. 

And Qrow couldn’t help but notice the dramatic change in his partner’s demeanor. 

The usually confident, flirty, huntsman was oddly quiet and withdrawn. Every time Qrow would dart his eyes over to the man, he was just sitting there, back a little stiff; nothing like his typical relaxed recline. And he kept biting at his bottom lip. Worrying it between his teeth. Not in a teasing way, which Qrow honestly wouldn’t have been very surprised by, but anxiously. 

Qrow hadn’t seen the captain anxious like that before and he was a bit taken aback by how much it unsettled him. How much he wanted to _fix_ it. 

Their game continued, Clover not playing nearly as well as he usually did, until Qrow had seen enough and pinned his fingers gently on the brown leather glove as Clover slid him his cards. 

He felt Clover tense before reluctantly meeting his eyes. 

Qrow could see him trying to muster up his usual bravado but there was a slight lightness to his voice that gave him away. 

“Something wrong, birdy?” 

Qrow squinted kindly at the still relatively new nickname, but didn’t let it distract him like he was sure was its purpose. 

“That’s my question, Cloves.” He quirked an eyebrow, pulling away from Clover’s hand as he nodded towards his lip. 

“You’re bleeding.” His expression was slightly smug like he knew he’d caught the younger man at something. But his voice was kind, concerned. 

Clover’s eyes widened, his now free hand shooting up to dab at his lip, pulling away to see a small smear of blood. 

Qrow saw the brunet wilt slightly as he sighed and it tugged at something tender in his chest. 

“Huh… yeah. Just an old bad habit.” He mumbled, shrugging it off quickly. 

Qrow noticed the pinch in his cheek as he bit it, mouth now closed. 

“Yeah…” Qrow hesitated, wondering how far he should push. The two partners had gotten closer sure, but their working together was still pretty new and outside of work there had always been an undercurrent of careful tension between them, like a match ready to strike at any moment. They were comfortable, but there was plenty about Clover’s personal life that Qrow didn’t know and vice versa. He didn’t want to upset the fragile balance they had already. 

But seeing Clover so thrown off like this was all but painful. So he continued. 

“You know, in my experience at least, that tends to be a nervous habit… that…” he raised an eyebrow sympathetically. “That you’re still doing.” He offered. 

Clover’s mouth opened slightly, staring at Qrow like a kid trying to figure out a way out of trouble the moment they got caught. 

“I…” 

“I guess it’s not really any of my business but…” Qrow held his gaze calmly. “Are you alright, Clover? It’s… I don’t think I’ve seen you anxious like that before… are you-” 

Qrow was caught off by the short laugh that Clover let out, his eyes immediately scrunching shut like he regretted it the moment it happened. 

Qrow shifted, turning to face the other man fully, and moving just a bit closer as a result. 

“Are you okay?” 

  
Clover huffed a stilted laugh, ducking his eyes from Qrow's gaze.   
  


"Guess that is a good thing, really..." It was mumbled but Qrow heard it. And for a split moment, he understood the looks Clover gave him when he was too hard on himself.

Clover hesitated for a moment, meeting Qrow's eyes again and seeming to look for something there, before finally admitting. "I'm anxious plenty of the time. Just really good at hiding it." He smiled weakly like it was a proud little parlor trick. Qrow wasn't fooled.

"Clover..." The older man murmured, instinctively leaning forward. 

Clover's eyes softened as he did and Qrow was surprised to hear, to see, his breath falter slightly, his eyes flitting between Qrow's eyes and lips. And then Qrow saw him steel himself. And jump.

"I'm… I'm anxious around you, Qrow."

Qrow laughed briskly, a little more flippantly than he really meant. "Ha! very funny. Mr. one-liners and backflips." 

"That's… that’s when there are other people around or…" his eyes flickered to the floor between them, just a few inches now.

Teal irises led back to crimson, locking on each other tentatively. 

"Or more space…"

"Huh?" Qrow blinked stupidly, as everything began to feel like it was moving around him, changing the entire landscape of his new life there in Atlas.

"Oh, come on, Qrow. I know I haven't exactly been subtle." Clover conceded, a little dejected at Qrow's tone. 

"...huh?" It was softer now. Hesitant. 

"You...you’re kidding, right?" Clover's voice was just barely strained, trying to gauge his partner's reaction and temper his own all at the same time. 

His eyes flickered to Qrow’s lips, before slowly dragging back up to meet his again. An expectant, lift in his brow. 

Qrow stared back, dumbfounded. And then it clicked. It didn’t make sense. But it clicked. 

“O-oh. _Oh_. R-right.” and he suddenly felt the immense gravity of the small space between them. He swallowed heavily, unsure of... of everything. 

“S-sorry… I didn’t want to make things weird… I wasn’t going to say anything…” Clover shrunk, and Qrow saw the tight pull at his cheek as the brunet bit down hard on the inside of his cheek. 

He wasn't that oblivious. He wasn't that ignorant of his own heart. But he'd ignored it. And whenever he'd suspected that Clover's banter and flirting might have come from a place of sincerity, he'd convinced himself it was in his head. He was just nice. Qrow was just looking for any attachment, any shred of affection, he could find amidst the chaos and pain and fear of the last year. Of his entire life. 

But he knew that wasn't really it. He wasn't looking. He didn't want to look. He didn't want to find anything. And possibly, even more, he didn't want to find something and know he couldn't have it. 

He'd thought he'd known he couldn't have Clover. That any indication otherwise was misguided, selfish, wishful thinking. 

But there he was. Right there. Looking at him like that. Nervous like that. Vulnerable like that. It was everything that should have sent him running. Should have told him it was too risky, too fragile, too much, too good to mar with his... everything. But it didn't. It drew him closer, it urged him on, it squeezed at his heart until he felt like if he didn't speak he'd choke. 

“Clover…” Qrow’s mouth bobbed for a moment, trying to find the words.

And clover’s heart stuttered as he saw a confused smile tug at his partner's lips, even as his brow twisted. His hand raised to the back of his neck as he squinted at the floor, a clear blush on his cheeks. Clover watched him nervously, his eyes drawn to the slight movement of his lips over and over. 

Finally, the crimson eyed huntsman looked back up, focusing on the still slightly red and swollen section of Clover’s lip, before slowly meeting his eyes again. 

“Clover… you… you make me nervous too… or… or rather you…” he laughed weakly, that sad smile pulling Clover the smallest bit closer.

“You’re one of the few people who _doesn’t_ make me nervous, or at least not how I’d expect… and _that_... Makes me nervous.” 

  
  


Qrow's hand left his neck and he reached forward cautiously, grazing his thumb over the rise of Clover's lip, already healing from his aura. His eyes never left the soft skin of his lips as he spoke. Clover's heart clenched at the genuine sadness there now, the guilt. 

"I... I have to be honest with you. This is a bad idea. A really really bad idea." He finally tore his gaze away and met those calm, endless teal eyes. "And I should care about that a lot more than I do right this second but..." 

The longing in Qrow's crimson irises was breathtaking and Clover sighed in relief, in anticipation, in eager nervousness as he looked down again at Qrow's lips.

They were so close now. His thumb still barely caressing clover's lip; his breath flooding Clover's senses in heavy, cautious, breaths, his nose nearly bumping up against his. 

Clover waited for him to close that last tiny, unbearable, distance. But he didn't. He felt the hesitation; the second-guessing. The twitch of soft lips as Qrow tried to decide what to do; tried to find the courage to decide. 

“I-I’m a bad idea, Clover.” The words dropped like a final confession, surrender, and Clover could feel him about to retreat, to shrink away. His eyes flew to meet Qrow's, the eager smile falling from his lips immediately as he locked their eyes. 

He lifted his hand to pull Qrow's back to him, leaning forward as he shook his head, never breaking eye contact. 

"No." Qrow felt more than heard it, Clover's lips on his before it even fully left his mouth.

It was a soft thing. A slow, gentle, testing of the waters. Clover dragged his lips from Qrow's lazily, a soft click between them as he broke away. He rested his nose against Qrow's, pressing a breath of a kiss to the top of his lip as he found his gaze again. 

"No, you aren't, Qrow." It was a soft, honest, precious whisper. 

And Qrow's breath ripped from him in sharp stutters as it found him. His smile was a melancholic flash before he surged forward, connecting them again in a fast, heavy, desperate kiss, that still remained so gentle, so tender. Qrow's hand curled in the collar of Clover's uniform right as Clover's fingers threaded through his hair. Neither could say whether the weak whimper that followed was their's or the others, but it passed between them seamlessly. 

They curled around each other, Clover's other hand finding the small of Qrow's back, and Qrow's the side of his vest. 

Finally, they broke apart, gasping for breath, blinking in a daze, watching the other to make sure he stayed, he was real. 

Something shot through Clover as Qrow finally looked away, a heaviness to his expression. And then he noticed the subtle tremble in the hands still twisted in his uniform. He covered the hand at his collar as he lifted Qrow's chin with the other, bringing their eyes back together. 

His voice was patient but sure, final. "I meant it. No matter how things turn out, that wasn’t a bad idea. That's... _you_ are not something I’m going to regret, Qrow. Ever."

Qrow stammered, brows tight as he scowled for a moment, before they lifted, about to argue. 

Clover stroked his cheek tenderly, shaking his head. He took a moment, watching his partner with a soft, reverent gaze, before speaking again. 

"Qrow… I... I know. I know there’s a lot there that’s not just gonna go away overnight. Or with me just saying how good…" He met rust-red eyes, cupping his cheek fondly but firmly. "How _amazing_ you are. And… and I’m here. I’m here to help you through it. But… right this second. Can we just… can we just try to forget about that? About everything else going on, and the future and… and just have this? Right now?” 

His look was vulnerable, pleading. And Qrow knew that, maybe even if for different reasons, this wasn't just automatically easy for Clover either. It scared him.

It scared Qrow.

But for clover. For the look on his face. For the soft warmth of his lips against his. For that hidden nervousness. For his patience and his kindness and his loyalty and his charm and his smile and his laugh and his... For every bit of him. 

Clover was the first person in a very long time, who he really wanted to try for like that.

"Y-yeah shamrock. I can try that."

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be honest, there's no way that at some point after all of this, once he was alone, Qrow didn't have at least a little panic attack... Possibly Clover too. 
> 
> \---------  
> There were 50 prompts originally, but I've already thought of a few more. Also had multiple ideas for a few, which is why some might be listed as chapter 1, with a future version of the prompt coming later.
> 
> Might not end up sticking strictly to the daily thing, but I'll do my best. Either way, here's an ongoing series of little moments.
> 
> Original prompt list - https://kashimalin-fanfiction.tumblr.com/post/178524845380/50-types-of-kisses-writing-prompts
> 
> Might edit here and there later, but the goal here was to just finish something, even if it's not perfectly polished.


End file.
